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2008 GSW

Authors

Sergio Chacon; Mequanint Moges

Session 6-3 Project-Based Learning in Telecommunications: An Approach To Teaching New Technologies Sergio Chacon, Mequanint Moges Engineering Technology Department University of Houston AbstractThis paper provides a description of our approach to teaching new technologies in the senior-leveltelecommunications course in the University of Houston’s College of Technology (CoT). In thiscourse, students are required to work on two projects during the semester: 1) the

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2008 GSW

Authors

Benjamin S. Kelley; Adam P. Ecklund; Aaron Dabney

Session 14-2 Baylor’s New Engineering Admissions Plan- Phase I Benjamin S. Kelley, Adam P. Ecklund School of Engineering and Computer Science Aaron Dabney Office of Admission Services Baylor University AbstractBaylor University is best known for academic programs in medicine, liberal arts, business, law, andreligion. Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is a relatively young andsmall component

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Marwan Al-Haik; Zayd Leseman; Claudia Luhrs; Mahmoud Reda Taha

introduces undergraduate students to the field ofnanotechnology with emphasis on Nanosystems and Nanodevices. Our novel approach is theutilization of hands-on experience in the field of nanotechnology in several undergraduate courses.The approach entails the introduction of “Nanotechnology Discovery Courses” that comprise ofinterlocking undergraduate Engineering Materials Science core courses enriched withnanotechnology. Upon moving to senior level courses students can tie the fundamentalnanotechnology concepts and the experimental skills acquired in the discovery courses to a“Nanosystems and Nanodevices Design Course”. Introduction The issue of introducing nanotechnology to the engineering curriculum

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Susan M. Bogus; Kerry J. Howe

project. Both courses require studentsto integrate the knowledge they have gained from their undergraduate curriculum into solving a real-life problem. In both courses, the project is a real project in progress at a local engineering or Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Educationconstruction company, and engineers or construction managers from the company act as mentors tothe students.2The challenge with using real-life projects is that project approaches are always changing. Onefairly recent change in the way that civil engineering projects are delivered is the

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Ian A. Gravagne; Kenneth W. Van Treuren

canflourish. A 2003 a survey of Baylor freshmen, a part of the National Survey of Student Engagement(NSSE), showed that Baylor students scored below the fortieth percentile on” Active andCollaborative Learning” and “Faculty-Student Interaction.2” In 2006, the NSSE showed similar Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Educationtrends. These findings were deemed unacceptable. Baylor has a rich history of teaching excellenceand, as a whole, is very student-centered. As a result of these findings a number of initiatives werebegun. One of the most significant changes

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Carol Costello; August Allo

& II. These courses are geared to simulate the experience of engineers inan industrial setting while maintaining an entrepreneurial atmosphere.The curriculum for the Design courses covers the progression from design conception tothe creation of working prototypes. The program addresses the need for professionalquality enhancement of communication skills consisting of scientific writing,presentations, and interpersonal skills, including working in teams. The classes Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Educationpreceding the design class do not focus on simulating an

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Matthias W. Pleil

Mechanical Engineering Department University of New Mexico Thor D. Osborn Sandia National Laboratories AbstractThis paper will showcase an innovative approach to creating interest in microsystemsengineering processing and design at the community college undergraduate level. Thisproject based curriculum begins to address some of the economic competitiveness issuesraised in the recent National Academy of Sciences report “Rising Above the GatheringStorm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future,” and theNational Academy of Engineering’s “Engineer of 2020.” Common points raised includethe students

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

James Mayrose; Steven Macho; Clark Greene

Session 13-2 Engineers of the Future by Design James Mayrose, Steven Macho, Clark Greene State University of New York College at Buffalo AbstractThe Engineers of the Future Program (EoF) was a grant funded initiative to promote interest inengineering as a career path. Design as a pedagogical approach was used to deliver STEM relatedcontent. Courses were developed to train technology teachers in skills and techniques which will helpmiddle and high school level students pass rigorous pre-engineering courses. One notable objective

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Chad E. Kennedy

engineering and engineering technology programs according to their associatedaccreditation boards with each institution vying for a leg up over the competition by creating“information rich” (a.k.a. information cramming) courses to meet certain teaching objectives.With ever increasing demands on the amount of content in a curriculum vs. balancing the creditload, it becomes a challenge of the faculty to include the fundamentals to a substantial level withminimal dilution, while simultaneously injecting new content to keep up with the increasingknowledgebase. Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

William Jordan

.Service learning has become mainstream enough to be discussed in a majorarticle in ASEE’s Prism magazine 9 . While there may be some localdisagreements within engineering programs concerning the legitimacy ofengineering service learning, on a national basis there appears to be anacceptance of this approach. Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico—Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Education Why do Engineering Service Projects?There are many reasons why faculty and students might wish to do engineeringservice projects. From the students’ perspective the opportunity to do a hands-on project where the results

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Ian A. Gravagne; Kenneth Van Treuren

transfer orsolid-state electronics class in which insufficient time exists to develop expertise with specializedtools; that prior to version 16, the software was somewhat more difficult to learn and use; and Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Educationthat specialized software may not see enough usage across the curriculum to justify its expense.Nevertheless, after some investigation the authors elected to use it in the newly designed “SolarEngineering” course open to senior and graduate engineering students. This course was offeredfor the first time in

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

E. H. Shaban

no longer practical. Presently, past the sophomore year electrical engineeringmajors, in some programs, may enroll in unrelated courses to satisfy the graduation requirement.This approach is neither beneficial to the student’s graduate education nor to the potentialemployers. A student who would like to pursue a degree in power systems or electricalmachines may discover that taking required courses in communication or design, layout, andfabrication of integrated circuits are not beneficial to the pursuit of his interest. The time may beappropriate to specialize the degree of bachelor science in electrical engineering to stand alonedisciplines. This paper discusses the present status in some electrical engineering programs withrespect to the

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Jerry K. Keska

laboratory for a course in Instrumentation and Measurements.The course, designed for the undergraduate junior level, was a two-semester course for a total offour credits, and it took place in conjunction with a one-hour classroom lecture in mechanicalengineering. A modified version of this approach, however, can easily be used at all levels of themechanical engineering curriculum. This laboratory’s development process began by writing asuccessful proposal for outside funding in order to create a hands-on teaching laboratory. A two-semester long, open-ended project was utilized, a process which required the students to come upwith creative approaches to problem solving. Consequently, a full-cycle learning experience tookplace. The students began with

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

George D. Gray

Improve Retention,” Proceedings of the 1995 ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education 95 Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.7. Sleeman, K., Sorby, S., 2007, “Effective Retention Strategies for Engineering Students,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Education- Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright ©2008, American Society for Engineering Education ICEE 2007 Conference, Coimbra, Portugal, September 3-7, 2007.8. Lamancusa, J.S., Jorgensen, J.E., Zayas-Castro, J.L., 1997, “The Learning Factory-A New Approach to Integrating Design and Manufacturing into the Engineering Curriculum”, Journal

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2008 GSW

Authors

Farrokh Attarzadeh; Enrique Barbieri; Miguel Ramos

highereducation that tout the benefits of this approach especially with regard to enhancingundergraduate instruction. This paper demonstrates how the Senior Capstone course(ELET 4308) in Computer Engineering Technology paralleled historical efforts toincorporate research-based learning in the undergraduate curriculum, thus anticipatingUniversity efforts in this area. The paper also examines the current state of the SeniorCapstone course and relation to the University Quality Enhancement Plan. IntroductionThe current emphasis on undergraduate research as an instructional tool can be traced tothe landmark Boyer Commission Report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: ABlueprint for America’s Research Universities. A

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2008 GSW

Authors

Kristi J. Shryock; Helen L. Reed

crucialinformation for your program.5 Work Effectively in Teams 5 4 3.2 3 2 1 0 1 Figure 1. Holistic Approach to Assessment. Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Education Work Effectively in Teams 100

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2008 GSW

Authors

Cheryl L. Willis

InformationThe two data sources below crosswalk SOC codes to CIP codes to program inventories. How could these datasources inform a program’s efforts to recruit high school students? Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Education1. ABET. Criteria for accrediting computing programs. Computing accreditation commission. August 8, 2007, p.21-23. www.abet.org.2. Willis, C. and Mayo, N. Determining future job requirements by adapting strategic planning to curriculum revision. Journal of Studiesi in Technical Careers, v10, n3, Sum 1988, pp. 215-27.3. Barnes

Collection

2008 GSW

Authors

Gary Rubendall; Sergio Chacon; Mequanint Moges

the integration of project-based learning in undergraduate curriculum.The College of Technology at the University of Houston incorporates the framework ofproject-based learning into the undergraduate courses in order to dramatically improvethe quality of technology education.The College of Technology at the University of Houston approach to project-basedlearning in the telecommunications course involves a basic or fundamental overview and Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Educationtwo “Hands-On” phases as represented in Figure 1: “Basic” introduction